Many articles are more conveniently handled if they have encircling straps applied to them, either to hold them together or to provide a means for lifting or transporting them. One example of this is where materials are formed into a bale (or bundle), with straps encircling the bale. The straps are used both for securing the materials in the bale and also to retain the size and desired shape of the bale. Typically, multiple straps are spaced apart along the length of the bale.
Often such bales are produced by equipment which includes large hydraulic presses which press the material into the initial bale shape desired. These bales are discharged from the press and retention straps are formed about the bale to hold it in the desired shape and size. Such strapping often occurs as the bale is being discharged from the press.
One problem with conventional equipment is that it cannot operate with sufficient speed to match the outfeed speed of the materials exiting from the bale press.
Some strapping equipment attempted to solve this problem by accumulating multiple pre-formed endless straps encircling an article-receiving region of the press and then dispensing the pre-formed straps onto the article as it is moved into or through the article-receiving region. The equipment, however, was limited to dispensing only pre-formed endless straps about a bale and could not be used in other ways for different applications, such as to form and apply a strap directly to the bale. In other words, the equipment was not configurable for varying sizes and resiliencies of articles. Also, the equipment did not provide sufficient robustness for long-term operability and did not have a compact arrangement. Furthermore, the equipment did not provide pre-formed straps of sufficient tightness for some applications and, although quicker than strapping directly onto the bundles (which typically requires stopping and starting the press each time), still did not provide sufficient speed for some applications.
Thus, it is seen that a different approach is needed to provide efficient and reliable strapping of bales of various characteristics that allow the press to operate at faster speeds.